Census bus rolling into Southern Arizona

NOGALES - In just a few months, the 2010 census will arrive at more than 130 million addresses across the nation.

The information collected from the census helps determine how more than four hundred billion dollars per year in federal funding is distributed to state, local and tribal governments.

That money can go towards hospitals, schools, public works projects, and emergency services.

It also helps determine the number of seats your state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.

And this year's census will bring 10,000 jobs here to Arizona.

Friday the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour stopped in Nogales to allow Santa Cruz County residents to learn about the benefits of this year's count for their own community and to do some recruiting for workers.

There were trailers, vans, bags, t-shirts; all things the census workers were using to get the word out its coming, and they said for each person they get to its money in the bank for Arizona.

Mark Hellfritz the Assistant Regional Census Manager said, "Each person has a dollar value by money appropriated back to the states so there is a dollar value on each person. If you miss a person you're really missing them for 10 years and it does have an economic impact on towns in the state of Arizona."

The money isn't the only draw. In 2000 Arizona had grown so much it picked up another representative in Washington. Local leaders hope that happens again.

Manuel Ruiz one of the Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors said, "The more people we have representing us the better chances we have of having some type of return."

But despite the major benefits of taking part, it still comes down to the people actually sitting down to do it.

Maria Barnett said she's going to fill it out. She said, "We always fill it out at home. It's important."

But with so many illegals and the language barrier, both residents and census workers know they have their hands full.

Another man who plans to fill it out said, "It's going to be very difficult because illegals and Mexicans are afraid of the government. They're not going to want to fill things out."

And that's one of the reasons tour is in Nogales, to recruit local residents, to convince their own friends and neighbors that its not only ok to do, but easy too.

Barnett said, "It's really easy. It's just checkmarks and stuff."

One other challenge census workers said they're up against is the struggling economy has even more people than normal second guessing the government.

The census begins April 1st.